Final Moments
by dreams and desperation
Summary: "Back home, everybody was telling me how stupid it was to want to volunteer. But I was stupid, self-centred. And right now, as the pain becomes unbearable, I'm paying the ultimate price." These are the final thoughts of the tributes as they die. Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games
1. District 8 Female

That's better.

The night was so cold, and the flame keeps me warm. The heat... it's such a relief. Maybe, if I can stay warm enough, I might actually manage to survive! I mean, I made it out of the bloodbath. That's something, right? Maybe I could win if I just stay out of the way of trouble for as long as possible. Maybe I could go home!

I squeal with joy. I might get to see my family again! I mean, there are about half of my competitors still alive, and if they kill each other off...

It's not impossible.

I sit on the ground, happy to have the warmth. Somewhere, a tribute probably hasn't been bright enough to make one. Maybe their cannon shall sound tonight, for the sake of a fire.

The breeze seems gentle now it isn't kiling me. It almost seems nice. _Almost._

I sigh. What did I do to deserve to be here, in the Hunger Games? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I attempt to relax. The more stressed I am, the lesser the chance of me getting to return to 8.

Suddenly, there's a shadow of a man. It overlaps mine - there's somebody behind me. I slowly turn, and it's the monster from 2. I gulp. _Well, life. I suppose this is goodbye. It was nice while it lasted._

He pulls out his sword, and I begin to cry.

"Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me. _Please_ don't kill me, _PLEASE_!" I sob, although I know my pleas are futile.

Then, the inevitable. He strikes me with his sword. Somewhere in the background, two girls giggle. Two boys mutter something. Wait - two boys? I thought one of the careers died!

A scowling girl comes to the boy who slashed my body. The light of the fire tells me that she's from 2 also. His district partner. She whispers something to him, and he smiles and nods before scowling again and turning to the rest of his alliance. One of the boys quietly asks, "Is she dead?"

The scowling girl from 2 nods. "Of course. Cato's not dumb, are you?" She glares, and I sigh inside. Cato. My assassin's name. That's something, I guess.

"No, Clove."

One of the other girls is overenthusiastic. "Twelve down and eleven to go!"

There are cheers, but not from 2. It almost seems like they're not fully in that alliance.

"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking." _Cato thinks I'm already dead. Maybe I might survive! If they just clear out and a sponsor sends me medicine..._

They leave, and I desperately await a parachute. They're talking, but I can't hear what they're saying.

No parachute comes, and I know I'm going to die. _Damn you, Cato. Damn you._

I hear footsteps but there's no use trying to hide. I'm dying already.

The boy has a knife and he looks intent on finishing me off. And he does. The knife enters my gut. _Ouch._

Only as the light leaves my eyes do I notice his district. District 12. That's weird.


	2. Glimmer

I can feel it stinging me, the pus under my skin. The pus over my skin, the bulbous lumps of this disgusting... _thing_ all over my body.

I'm running, running from these wasps but I can't run fast enough, I'm incapable. My body is... _uncontrollable_ , it's scary. And rather creepy. But I can't let that concern me, right now I only care for my life. Which, if this doesn't improve and the wasps don't go away, and I don't think they will, will be over very soon.

I feel so stupid. I mean, they warned me. Back home, everybody was telling me how stupid it was to want to volunteer. But I was stupid, self-centred. And right now, as the pain becomes unbearable, I'm paying the ultimate price.

I'm dying.

The bow is still in my hand and I try to drop it but I can't, my hands have gone solid with this... well, I don't even know what it is. But it isn't right. I'm meant to be the pretty one, not the girl I look like right now - she isn't me, she's just a ghost of me. A puffy ghost.

The bow is cutting into my hand now, and it _hurts_. I mean, it _really hurts_. I want it to be over and I fall to the ground but now there are spiders crawling all over my body, all over my face. They are everywhere. And I hate it.

I go to flick them off but I can't flick them off because I can't move my arm to do so. They're in my eyes now, their own eight all glaring at my own two, creating webs over them. They're in my nose and on my lips and somehow inside of my closed mouth and they're crawling down my throat and-

I should be shuddering. But I'm paralysed, and I can't. The spiders are everywhere, all over me. And it's horrible. I try to scream but there's a web over my mouth, stopping the sound.

 _It's all fake. None of it is real, it's got to be a hallucination. It can't be real... can it?_

These spiders certainly don't feel like I'm imagining them. No, they _must_ be real. I'm not going mad. I'm already dying ugly, I at least want to die remotely sane!

They're crawling over me. They're still crawling over me. _Why are they still crawling over me?_

Then they vanish from sight, and it's all black. But I can still feel them. Even that is lessening now. Everything is gradually fading away, all of my senses becoming nothing.

My sight's already gone but now I can't smell or hear or taste anything either. But I still feel them crawling, just slightly...

And then that stops. Just like that, it stops.

My thoughts stop too.


	3. District 4 Female

It hurts. It hurts. It _hurts_ and I'm running, running for my life, trying to keep moving so I don't die. If I stop, I shall die. A momentary rest could be fatal.

If I keep travelling, maybe I'll reach water. There was water around here, right? I think there was, but I couldn't be sure right now. If I reach water, and I get in it, then maybe they'll leave me alone. They don't want to drown, just like I don't want to be stung to death.

I'm racing as fast as I can, trying to keep my distance from the wasps. What's their name? Tracking jackets? Something like that. I don't even know any more.

It's hardly like I exactly care either, is it? A name doesn't detract from the agony I'm in.

The pain as I run is awful, I feel as though I am dying. I think I am dying. I can't run any longer, as much as I want to, and I fall to the ground, losing all useless hope that I had until this point. _Let them sting me to death, I'd have died from the venom already inside of my bloodstream regardless._

I lie here, on the forest floor, with the wounds getting bigger. And bigger. And it's disgusting. It feels like someone is pinching me. Maybe they are. Would that really be a bad thing? It's a moment's distraction from the injuries I've managed to gain. The ones which mean I am dying.

Mother always told me to never give up hope, to always try to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But in death, it seems, there isn't a tunnel to see through. Just a load of people pinching me. At least, it feels like people.

It must be humans, since a finger begins to poke me in my right eye, and another not long after to my left, pushing them inside of my skull, blinding me. It's like a nightmare. But it isn't a nightmare. It's so real.

I scream, "Make it stop! Make it stop!" But they just jab harder. I wonder why I must be tortured so, why I can't be dead already. I go to reach for my knife, to end it, but I can't remember which pocket I put it in, and I can't see without any eyes.

It may be too late for me, but maybe my allies still stand a chance. Clove and Cato and Glimmer and Marvel. Maybe they're all okay, and it's just me.

I very much doubt it. The girl who did this to me, she wanted to kill us all. She wouldn't have gone to all of that effort just to get rid of me.

Sure enough, I hear a muffled cannon. One of the others, it must be. District 1, I presume. Clove and Cato are bright enough to find safety, but Glimmer and Marvel? Maybe not.

All of this is unbearable. I didn't volunteer for this, not a single person warned me of the consequences of being a tribute. Enter and win, that's what I was taught.

But it really isn't that simple.

I can feel my body getting lighter and I feel almost weightless. I can see again and I am weightless. A cannon sounds and I know it's for me. I can't go home again, nobody can save me now.


	4. District 10 Male

How have I made it this far? Surely I should be dead by now. I mean, I'm from District 10! District 10, of all places!

I must be very good at hiding. I don't see what else it could be. Well, in that case, I needn't worry for now. I'll sleep. My stomach's so empty that I don't think I could stay awake without being distracted by hunger anyway.

I know they're called the Hunger Games, but I'm even hungrier than I expected to be. I can't hunt, and those berries... maybe they're toxic. There was a bush, the berries were safe. But they're gone now, and I don't want to risk my life for a taste of a possibly poisonous berry. I've lasted a week now, sometime soon a sponsor is destined to take me on, surely.

I fall asleep, safe with the thought that I haven't yet been found. It's a pleasant sleep considering where I am. I'm in no more danger than any other night.

I dream of going home, of returning to my grateful family. I miss them, and I need them. They need me, that's why I need to win. I need to get back to them.

"Wha-" I mumble. I've been awoken from my slumber, and it's terrifying. I look for who it is - just a rabbit, hopping about. It probably didn't notice me.

I sigh in relief, and try to sleep again. It can't be much past midnight.

This time I dream of the rabbit, of how its life is so much simpler. Rabbits don't have reapings. Rabbits aren't fearful of being selected for the Hunger Games. Yes, they're hunted, but I very much doubt they realise that. Lucky sods.

Then I'm awoken again. This time, I panic. There's a firm grip on my shoulder and my eyes open wide to see the boy from District 2.

"Well, look what we have here!" He snarls, and the girl beside him laughs. I think there should be another boy, but I can't see him. Maybe he's stayed to guard their camp. Maybe he's just sleeping - it's still very early.

His grip gets even tighter as the girl gets out a knife from a vest she wears. "This is my kill, Cato. I want to kill him. I let you have that girl..."

"You know full well that Twelve stole my glory there..."

"Yes, but you had the chance. It's hardly my fault that you couldn't quite manage to end her life." She speaks in a harsh tone, and I don't like it. She's clearly younger than me, but she's terrifying me.

He scowls. "Fine."

She smirks at him, and then she aims her knife at me. I gasp, unable to get out any words. She throws, and I feel a pain in my chest like never before...

 _It hurts._


	5. District 3 Male

_Boom!_

There's debris in the air, debris from the pile that the boy from 2 instructed me to guard. Debris by my feet that I can't get rid of, debris that shall be my downfall.

I try to run as far as I can but I can't, there is too much rubble to navigate through. So I try to hide, but she sees me.

Clove - the monster's district partner, and his closest companion.

I freeze and the look in her eyes tells me to not disobey her, so I follow her to the boys. Well, I expect to see the boys, but I can only see one myself. Maybe the boy from District 1 is guarding the boundary, or maybe he is hunting tributes.

If I thought that the girl was angry, I obviously wasn't anticipating the boy's reaction fully. He stares into my eyes and I can tell that he can see all of the fear that I presently feel. Clove is smirking in the background.

I see the boy from 1 in the distance for a moment but I don't dwell on it, he seems slightly calmer than the other two do so I can't let him concern me right now.

"Tried to run, Cato," she sneers, and she pushes me into him.

"We wouldn't have wanted that, would have we?"

"Not at all." For a minute I think that he is threatening her too, that she is genuinely scared, but then I see her face and I realise she is only joking about, that she is fine. _Well, that's one of us. Shame it isn't me._

I try to wriggle out of his tight grip, but this seems to annoy them both. Clove kicks my left leg so hard it stings and she starts laughing manically. "I think he's done everything he's good for now, don't you, Cato? Personally, I think we should just kill him..."

"So do I," he says with the angry glint still in his eye. "You or I?"

"You can do it. Take out all... your... anger..." she spits, and I brace myself for when he chooses to spear me.

"Fine by me." His grip crushing my body is replaced by hers, seemingly to stop me escaping, but he stands still before me rather than taking out a weapon. Then, his hands reach my neck and he twists.

The crack of my own neck and the cackles of the monstrous duo are the last thing I hear as my limp body hits the ground and I force myself to take my final pained breath.


	6. Marvel

Another kill to my name, that what this is. The little girl from District 11. Rue.

She would have never have survived anyway, there are too many of us who are trained and _brutal._ But it's nice knowing that I'm the one who got to end her miserable life.

The silver javelin protrudes from her tiny stomach and it's a beautiful, _beautiful_ sight to see. The pain in her eyes, the pain that's spreading all over her body - well, it's like I'm watching a movie, it's such a stunning thing. Call me a sadist, please feel free to - after all, it's what I aim to be.

Sunlight glimmers on the end of my favourite weapon, and it draws me into a trance. _Glimmer._ My district partner was undeserving of such a pretty name, the stupid whore. She was just pissed off that neither Cato nor I would give her what she wanted, yet that Clove girl got it.

I can't say I'm shocked that Cato likes her, she actually has a personality. Shame they'll have to kill each other, isn't it? I sneer - I honestly must be the only Career this year with a clear goal. Maybe it would have been nice to have some help along my journey, but I guess my good fortune didn't extend that far.

A sharp pain starts in my throat and I can taste bile in the back of my formerly dry mouth. I only have to tilt my eyes downwards a little to confirm my suspicions. I've been shot.

All my dreams and hopes of glory are gone in just a second of horror. I can see the light fading from my very eyes and yet I'm holding on for just one more moment, to hear my victim's cannon sound.

It never does, and I wonder if she's going to die at all, or if my own assassin has given her medicine. She had better not be saved - if I'm going to hell, I fully intend on dragging that little bitch down with me. Her screams are what killed me, I doubt my presence would have been noticed without them.

And yes, I'm talking in the past now, because I know I'm gone. There's nothing I can do to buy me a little precious time. All I'm good for now is becoming another face in the sky, another child to bring shame to District 1. They'll see me in as bad a light as Glimmer, many years from now. Maybe that's the saddest thing of all.

Mom and Dad will probably never even tell Wish about my existance, and she won't remember me off her own accord. She's only one, and she's barely ever spent any time with me. She'll never get the chance to have an older brother, someone to look up to and strive to be like. I wanted to be something to her, I really did. I _know_ I'm a bad person, but I could have been a good brother, I _swear._ Thoughts race about insude my head, meshing with one another so much I can't even tell them apart anymore.

It's like I'm being shot all over again as my soul is torn from my body, and redemption is the last thing that's on my mind. _Please forgive me._

Then there's black.

Then there's nothing at all.


	7. Rue

The javelin makes contact with my clothes, with my skin, and tears through my body. I cry out in pain, praying Katniss can hear me.

The boy from District 1 is fixated on my near-corpse, and I'm terrified as to why. _Is he a necrophiliac or something?_ The thought is quickly dismissed from my mind, I know I'm being ridiculous. He's just... scarily homicidal, that's all. He just wants to see my final moments, the light draining from my eyes - that's probably what he's staying here for, the sadist.

Well, I'm fully intending on _not_ giving him that pleasure. I'm not going to take my last breath until he's nowhere to be seen. He caused my agony, but he shaln't get to see the whole of my struggle. I'm strong-willed, I'm sure I can hold on long enough.

The light can't take me just yet.

Katniss arrives and I go to warn her and she sees him. She shoots, and I don't even think of blinking. I didn't think I would ever be so fortunate to get the chance to see my killer die themself, but here he is, and I'm enjoying seeing his momentary pain. Call me cruel, I don't care. I'm still sweet on the surface, nobody ever really needed to know my cruel side, though everybody has one. My ally's always shines through when the arrows fly from her bow, and she shows no remorse for her prey.

His cannon fires and I feel slightly lighter inside, like a burden's been lifted. The boy who killed me won't get the chance to go home and live out a full life, and that's revenge enough for me.

She kneels by my side as I fall to the floor and I let the waiting tears fill my eyes and fall across my face to the ground. There's no use in holding them back, I don't need to keep a reputation any longer. Whoever is watching over me must be cruel to let me suffer like this. I mean, I'm _twelve._

I beg her to sing and she obliges. The melody coming from her mouth is not one that I have ever heard before, but it's beautiful, and it's calming, and I have no trouble falling into my final, eternal sleep.


End file.
